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Thursday, August 10, 2017

From glory to glory...

The
catechism teaches that death is the
separation of the soul fromthe
body; that is all. I am not afraid of a separation

which will
unite me forever with God.”-St Therese of
Lisieux

"The
Pope and the faithful had gatheredin the
catacombs in the evening of August 6,
258. Being Christians in a cemetery, theirs was an illegal assembly punishable
by death. There is every reason to believe that the catacomb Mass that
evening was to be offered specifically to strengthen the faithful to endure the
new persecution...Pope Sixtus was preaching...
soldiers burst into the crypt. The congregation drew together before them,
baring their breasts and extending their necks to signify that they were ready
to die to protect the Pope. But Sixtus would have none of that. He came
forward and they took him, along with four of his
deacons.

Another
deacon, Lawrence, cried out: "Father,
where are you going without your deacon?"
Sixtus replied: "I
do not leave you, my son. You shall follow me in three
days."

The
Vicar of Christ was taken up the nearby stairs and beheaded on the spot, along
with the four deacons. For some 1,500 years his name was mentioned in the Canon
said by every Catholic priest of the Latin rite, anywhere in the world.

Deacon
Lawrence was temporarily spared in order to give the persecution officials
access to the treasure supposedly accumulated by the Roman church. What he
actually brought forth before the prefect of Rome was
not gold and silver, but a representative group of the poor and needy. ...The
angry prefect commanded that Lawrence be roasted to death on a gridiron. He
joked with his executioners about turning his body over because 'one side is
broiled
enough'."